Nagoya Nears
Eric Blair
As Nagoya nears, EB gets a head start on the pack by focussing on points of interest, past and present surrounding sumo's hottest basho

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
The 42nd yokozuna Kagamisato falls under the JK microscope

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Kokonoe-beya and the Chiyo Boys

SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
SFM's Ed-in-Chief interviews Estonian up and comer Baruto

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM's Editor looks at all the twists and turns involved in the tsunauchi-shiki and adds a photo bonanza to boot

Photo Bonanza
See the Natsu
Basho and Kokonoe-beya photo bonanzas

Natsu Basho Summary
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Natsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila lets you know what is going on down below the curtain

Nagoya Ones to Watch
Mark Buckton
MB's mixed bag of things to look out for in Nagoya

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko takes us on a tour of several defensive oriented kimarite

Amateur Angles
Howard Gilbert
The first of our regular column pieces on the amateur sumo scene from a man who knows more than most

Sumo Game
Bruce Rae
For a look at his very own: PTYW (Pick The Yusho Winners)

Sumo in Print
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM's Editor reviews the newly published biography of Akebono, Gaijin Yokozuna – but sees it as more than just a biography

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites around

Fan Debate
Facilitator – Lon Howard
Sumo author Mina Hall and long long time fan Jim Bitgood discuss how to make sumo more entertaining – if such a concept is even necessary

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson		  
Sit back and enjoy the offerings of sumo's premier artists

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that
made you a sumo fan? James Vath in rural Japan lets us in on his gateway to the sport

Readers’ Letters
See what our readers had to say since we last went out

Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.

  Japanese to take home the Emperor's Cup, yet while impressive as a maegashira, (at this point Nagoyans read no further, shout ‘upset’ three times and declare – ‘aren't we unique!’) the basho saw no yokozuna participation and had the combined trio of ozeki ending up with a poor 19 wins, 15 defeats and 11 absences. Even the sekiwake and komusubi were off their game with three of the seven at rank failing to achieve kachikoshi.

Admittedly, twenty years later, in 1992, the banzuke released for the Nagoya basho was only headed by ozeki and was completely devoid of yokozuna for the first time since the very early 1930s, but Baruto recently went 15-0 in juryo and not many are calling Osaka an oasis of surprise – are they? Oh! Osakans are? Well, Lonely Planet only gave them 16 pages so that'll be the famous Kansai shoulder chip growing in size I guess? I'll get to them in another issue.

Add to the very limited examples above then the fact that someone, sometime on NHK (English and / or Japanese) will regurgitate the following overused Nagoya chestnuts David Letterman may one day opt to whittle down to a
Top 10 List:

a. the heat,

b. Kitanofuji turning up in a very Japanese-looking yukata (as opposed to French-looking yukata presumably) on at least two of the 15 days,

c. Kitanofuji looking particularly dapper in same said yukata,

d. Kitanofuji still looking dapper (later in the basho) in same said yukata,

e. the heat again,

f. Toyozakura's constant ‘sheen’,

g. his brother, Kitazakura's

Perhaps the most recognizable ‘fans’ of sumo today (Photo by Barbara Ann Klein)



















 approachability being affected by his own ‘sheen’,

h. did I mention the heat?,

i. fans given out to the fans attending day X of the action,

j. said fans' usage of said fans (try that one 3 times in fast repetition),

k. Olympic Ojisan and his rather famous, but not dapper, fan,

l. perhaps the heat one more time,

m. short sleeves oh-so-suiting (fill in this blank) oyakata as he does the commentary,

n. more Toyozakura, more about the heat, more on the ‘Zakura’ brothers' profuse sweating, fluttering fans, repeat after me and you get the picture,

and you see the depression I feel as sumo sinks to its low point of the calendar year in Nagoya. By the way – wasn't that a helluva long sentence! If it isn't the surprise factor, it's the heat factor. Sweat (Toyozakura) or style (Kitanofuji) with a few verbal funnies on fans and you have Nagoya in a nutshell.

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